Jeepney TV brings in anime action with Hero ZoneCoco is Jeepney’s Icon of the Month

Jeepney TV brings thrilling anime action to the cable channel as it launches the Hero Zone block starting this Sunday (March 11), with the airing of the Japanese motorsport “Initial D” movie trilogy and back-to-back episodes of “Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.”

The new Hero Zone block features two hours of nonstop action with the best anime series and movies. Its premier offerings include “Initial D” about an accidental street racer and his challenges to be the ultimate road legend, and the exciting Japanese series “Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V” featuring a son’s journey to become one of the world’s best duel-trainers.

It is Primetime King Coco Martin’s turn to become the JTV Icon of the Month. Viewers get to go back to the journey of the actor in JTV Star Showcase, and his exciting beginnings with not just one but three series airing on the channel: action series “Agimat: Tonyong Bayawak” and “Juan dela Cruz,”’ and hit drama “Walang Hanggan.”

Catch the best of anime in Hero Zone, Sundays at 10am-12nn, and JTV Icon of the Month: Coco Martin, all Sundays of March at 7:30pm. Jeepney TV is available on SKYcable channel 9, Destiny Cable Analog 41 and Digital 9. For updates, like the Jeepney TV page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JeepneyTV) or visit www.jeepneytv.ph.

The network clarifies in a press release sent to Anime Pilipinas that the anime block will air two anime series every week: the first of New Initial D the Movie trilogy (not the series as initially reported) and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.

New Initial D the Movie – Legend 1: Awakening will air at 10:00am, while Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V will air at 11:00am.

Jeepney TV was launched by media conglomerate ABS-CBN’s cable channels division in October 2012 as a channel dedicated to air classic and archive shows of the network. The channel eventually aired their own programming that were aired first on the channel.

The channel’s HERO Zone anime block will be the first time that ABS-CBN will air a Japanese anime show on its cable channels since the anime channel HEROtv was shut down last February 1, which was then revamped as a “digital portal” by ABS-CBN Lifestyle division a couple of days later.

“HERO Zone” was the name of the anime block of the terrestrial channel ABS-CBN that ran from 2006-2007, which featured titles like The Law of Ueki and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. The anime block was relaunched as “Team Animazing”.

The media conglomerate also announced on Saturday that the popular music idol anime Love Live! Sunshine!! and Makoto Shinkai’s top-grossing anime movie your name. are set to air on the anime block soon.

JeepneyTV, ABS-CBN’s cable channel focused on airing classic programs has earlier announced that it will air Initial D: Fifth Stage as its first offering on the anime block. It will premiere on March 11, airing every Sunday at 10AM – 12NN on the channel.

In 2013, ABS-CBN launched Jeepney TV, which is not only a blunt attempt to compete with FOX Filipino Channel, whose format is based on replaying old content from GMA and TV5, but to also monetize content from their deep video library which has been digitized, part of an ongoing intra-company drive to digitize ABS-CBN’s vast archives starting from 1987.

With over 10,000 hours of content at their disposal, Jeepney TV boasts a deep bench of programming coming from ABS-CBN, which included timeless comedy classics like Home Along Da Riles, Okay Fine, Whatever, and Arriba Arriba, Top teleseryes like Mula Sa Puso, Pangako sa Iyo, and Lobo, and various light entertainment content like Ryan Ryan Musikahan, Tatak Pilipino, Game KNB, and ASAP, among others. Alongside TV shows, it also showed old Filipino movies with stars like Fernando Poe, Jr. Dolphy, and old Star Cinema films. Later, Jeepney TV started showing some foreign content as well, like Baywatch, which was aired on ABS-CBN in the early nineties.

Now, Jeepney TV is about to expand its remit as a true General Entertainment channel as it becomes the home of a brand new block that will show anime programs for the first time ever.

The only catch: It will be called as HERO Zone,

Yes, you heard that right, Hero Zone returns on Jeepney TV. From a separate anime channel which has breathed its last in January, Hero returns, albeit as a two-hour-a-week block on Sunday Mornings on the General Entertainment channel.

Since becoming as a digital portal under ABS-CBN’s Lifestyle quadrant headed by no less than former Bandila anchor Ces Orena-Drilon, Hero has found itself under a cloud as to where its strengths in social media will lay. True, Hero still has lots of followers on its social media channels, but ever since Hero ceased becoming a linear channel, what has it become?

Hero, in my opinion, is ABS-CBN’s blatant attempt to make every single pop-culture fan look like second-class citizens. I mean, come on, has Hero created any compelling content that would have become something more worthwhile of becoming a fully-fledged digital portal?

Would Hero, the portal, be a conduit for SkyCable to promote channels like Aniplus or Animax? Or would Hero be gunning for a media partnership for the big anime events in the country like Toycon, Best of Anime, or even Cosplay Mania? And what has become of its sponsorship in World Cosplay Summit?

On the first question, I don’t think ABS-CBN would be prudent enough to put Hero on an awkward position to promote shows of its erstwhile competitors. On the second and third questions, only time will tell about their plans about it.

Now, on Hero’s anime content being aired on Jeepney TV. Hero Zone reminded me of the time ABS-CBN branded its anime block as “Hero Zone” in 2007, when the network aired anime shows like D.I.C.E, Gundam Seed Destiny, and The Law of Ueki, among others.

It was ABS-CBN’s second take on a co-channel branding (remember Myx sa Dos in 2004?) but on scale that was unprecedented in Philippine TV. Hero Zone was supposed to be successful on paper, as it would ABS to identify itself as the network that owns Hero and for Hero to be given exposure on a wider, truly national audience.

But ABS-CBN killed off Hero Zone by the time 2008 and and 2009 rolled in, replaced by a more “kid-friendly” sounding anime block name, called “Team Animazing” (yech, that stupid theme still rolls in my head whenever I hear that)

Anyhow, with the Hero Zone block, Jeepney TV’s conversion from becoming simply an archive channel of ABS-CBN to becoming a full-fledged General Entertainment channel is now complete, My understanding is that it could even be placed on Digital TV if it has the galls to do it.

If ABS-CBN will play its cards right, it could be the Philippine equivalent of Nine’s 9Gem, of which its remit was “General Entertainment and Movies”, or Seven’s 7TWO (both of which, I should point out, airs a large amount of sports in their schedules). Right now though, Jeepney TV’s market is still catered to the pay-TV audience, but maybe, if ABS-CBN knows it’s potential, it will be a gamechanger on DTT.

As for the Hero Zone block on the channel, I am of the opinion that this is another “testing the waters” phase for the platform, as it could gauge whether the fans of the deceased Hero TV channel are still there for them. If the thing flies around, it will eventually be expanded to four hours a week to six hours a week.

A return of the platform as a channel is not going to work in the interim. Hero needs to rebuild its audience, and for its digital platform to find its footing first, as it has suffered terribly in the weeks after it has relaunched (I mean, come on, who is in the right mind to push anime fans to read about Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano’s Teleserye, Bagani?).

Hero should stick with what it was supposed to do when it became a platform, and that is to create relevant, compelling, and interesting content about Anime, Gaming, and pop culture without dumbing down its audience, and I hope with Ces Drilon’s leadership at the helm of the platform, it may pick people with the journalistic chops to enable Hero be a perfect destination for pop-culture news and views without resorting to cheap clickbait tricks or even content that is trashy.

There is a lot at stake in Hero’s “return” as a block, both for Hero, Jeepney TV, and ABS-CBN, and in this fractured TV environment, it has to be sure it has to play everything right. /fstn